(I wrote this when Angel Boy was a baby and never published. Found it recently and had to share)
One morning at breakfast, I inform the kids that it is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. "Does anyone know what that means?" "When Mary visits Elizabeth?" The Queen says. "When Jesus is born?" Princess pipes in. At this point my delusional image of their perfectly Catholic education is waning a bit. Then, the Eldest saves the day with a perfectly perfect book answer "The Immaculate Conception refers to the Blessed Virgin Mary being conceived without original sin, God granted her this grace at her birth, it is not to be confused with the Incarnation." Phew!! 1 out of 3, not so bad.
The conversation went from this to why some people don't understand or believe in this doctrine to so many other directions I can't even cover here. But my favorite quote is from the Eldest, "You know mom (while doing his shot for breakfast) this insulin is like people coming into the church, and I am like the syringe helping them to get there and my body is like heaven, our ultimate goal."
There's a little rhyme I learned in school to learn the direction of a compass, "Never Eat Shredded Wheat". When trying to teach the Queen this she says, "but I eat shredded wheat every morning. We have to come up with something else." After careful thought over this she says "How bout, Never Ever Sink a Warship." I find this hilarious considering her personality, it is SO appropriate. She says, "Well! It's true! You don't want to sink a warship or then you might get in the middle of a war!"
Sunday morning, I send The Queen up to wake up her older brother as usual. She comes back down and with a big sigh says, "How come he is always grumpy in the morning? even on Sunday!" I asked, "What did he say?" She said, "He said, 'great, now I have to break my back to get dressed'".
At the table The Queen kept asking me when the Little Guy would start kindergarten. I finally said, "Why are you so concerned about (The Little Guy) and his starting school?" She said, "because I am trying to figure out how he is going to change from 'El Destructo' into a Kindergartener, I mean, he doesn't have that much time!"
We have conversations about heaven often. As a family we are having to make a lot of dietary sacrifices for our health, so often the children take turns describing what their house might have in it (ok, mommy plays too, my house is usually made out of chocolate and coffee). The conversation then moves to what will we be doing in heaven and what will it be like to be with God? I make the comparison to candy, when you taste God, he is so amazing you can't help but want more and more and more, except, candy would make you sick, God does not. And the Eldest says, "yea, and like candy when you taste it you feel like you want others to taste it to."
The Eldest asks "Mom, what's a winter solstice?" After looking it up online, I read out loud, "The winter solstice occurs exactly when the Earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26'. More evident to those in high lattitudes, this occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun's daily maximum position in the sky is the lowest. Since the winter solstice lasts only a moment in time, other terms are often used for the day on which it occurs, such as midwinter, the longest night or the first day of winter." After a brief moment of silence, The Eldest says "Were you talking to someone, mom?"
At the table someone asked how old I was. "34" I reply. The Queen says, "40?! oh wow, at first I thought you said 40, I'm glad you are just 34, 40 is a really BIG number." The Eldest says, "But there's even hope for 40 yr. olds. I heard that one even won an Olympic medal once!"
One morning at breakfast, I inform the kids that it is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. "Does anyone know what that means?" "When Mary visits Elizabeth?" The Queen says. "When Jesus is born?" Princess pipes in. At this point my delusional image of their perfectly Catholic education is waning a bit. Then, the Eldest saves the day with a perfectly perfect book answer "The Immaculate Conception refers to the Blessed Virgin Mary being conceived without original sin, God granted her this grace at her birth, it is not to be confused with the Incarnation." Phew!! 1 out of 3, not so bad.
The conversation went from this to why some people don't understand or believe in this doctrine to so many other directions I can't even cover here. But my favorite quote is from the Eldest, "You know mom (while doing his shot for breakfast) this insulin is like people coming into the church, and I am like the syringe helping them to get there and my body is like heaven, our ultimate goal."
There's a little rhyme I learned in school to learn the direction of a compass, "Never Eat Shredded Wheat". When trying to teach the Queen this she says, "but I eat shredded wheat every morning. We have to come up with something else." After careful thought over this she says "How bout, Never Ever Sink a Warship." I find this hilarious considering her personality, it is SO appropriate. She says, "Well! It's true! You don't want to sink a warship or then you might get in the middle of a war!"
Sunday morning, I send The Queen up to wake up her older brother as usual. She comes back down and with a big sigh says, "How come he is always grumpy in the morning? even on Sunday!" I asked, "What did he say?" She said, "He said, 'great, now I have to break my back to get dressed'".
At the table The Queen kept asking me when the Little Guy would start kindergarten. I finally said, "Why are you so concerned about (The Little Guy) and his starting school?" She said, "because I am trying to figure out how he is going to change from 'El Destructo' into a Kindergartener, I mean, he doesn't have that much time!"
We have conversations about heaven often. As a family we are having to make a lot of dietary sacrifices for our health, so often the children take turns describing what their house might have in it (ok, mommy plays too, my house is usually made out of chocolate and coffee). The conversation then moves to what will we be doing in heaven and what will it be like to be with God? I make the comparison to candy, when you taste God, he is so amazing you can't help but want more and more and more, except, candy would make you sick, God does not. And the Eldest says, "yea, and like candy when you taste it you feel like you want others to taste it to."
The Eldest asks "Mom, what's a winter solstice?" After looking it up online, I read out loud, "The winter solstice occurs exactly when the Earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26'. More evident to those in high lattitudes, this occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun's daily maximum position in the sky is the lowest. Since the winter solstice lasts only a moment in time, other terms are often used for the day on which it occurs, such as midwinter, the longest night or the first day of winter." After a brief moment of silence, The Eldest says "Were you talking to someone, mom?"
At the table someone asked how old I was. "34" I reply. The Queen says, "40?! oh wow, at first I thought you said 40, I'm glad you are just 34, 40 is a really BIG number." The Eldest says, "But there's even hope for 40 yr. olds. I heard that one even won an Olympic medal once!"
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